COTE – Committee on the Environment: MASS TIMBER: How it could save the world! (1 LU | HSW)

This program explains why increased forest protection and improved stewardship are key to addressing the climate crisis and reducing the embodied carbon of wood products — and how the green building movement can help.

Learning objectives:

• Forests’ role in combatting climate change
• Is increased wood use and mass timber construction beneficial or detrimental?
• Forest carbon: what it is, how it works and why it determines the real carbon footprint of wood products
• Climate-friendlier forestry and practical wood procurement strategies to promote it
• Illegally logged and traded wood products: the climate connection + a new and innovative approach to avoiding illegal wood in building construction

Speaker bio:

For 25 years, Jason Grant has been a leader in the sustainable forestry and green building movements. As a manager within World Wildlife Fund’s forest team, he works with major companies on responsible wood sourcing policies and practices, and also leads for WWF US on forest certification and forest legality. For a decade prior to joining WWF, he was an independent consultant and worked with companies and NGOs on policy, advocacy, marketing, training and compliance. A LEED AP BD+C, Jason is recognized as an expert in ecological forest products and their role in green building. Early in his career, he co-founded EcoTimber, one of the first companies in the world to bring to market products from forests certified to the stringent environmental and social standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).